My city under threat

I am a Punekar.
I have been born and brought up in the city of Pune and I say this with great pride.
I love every bit of this city. The vintage Pune that dwells across the lakdi pul, the peths and the British Pune that you will find in the Gymkhana area and the Contemporary Pune that you will find along the NAGAR ROAD or Katraj Bypass Road, I love every part of it.

Being Punekar is about loving the Wada Pav. It’s about those late night bike rides to Sinhagad and Pirangut. It’s about the gatherings across the bridges late in the evenings. It’s is about celebrating everything you do.

We celebrate New Year, we celebrate Christmas. We celebrate when India wins the match. We celebrate Holi. We celebrate Ganesh Chaturthi.

Lokmanya Tilak brought Ganpati Bappa out of the houses into the mandals. He wanted to give Punekars a reason to assemble, to unite for a cause. Since then Ganesh Chaturthi has been the focal part of Punekars life.

The air in the city is completely different for the 10 days of Ganesh Chaturthi. You will see everybody busy with their local mandals and trying to be the best. The decoration, the lightening, the sound system, everything becomes a vital part of the celebration. And it continues till Anant Chaturdashi or visarjan.

Preparation for procession of the visarjan is much more than that of the Ganesh Chaturthi. The wadaks are busy practising new beats. The organisers are busy planning out the logistics. The public is prepared to keep itself free on those 2 days of mirawnuk. Every one is preparing to say GOOD BYE to lord Ganesha. And on the day of Anant Chaturdashi, the whole of Pune is on the streets to see their favourite deity going back to meet his mom. Literally, the whole of Pune!

A few years ago, the local authorities thought that 2 nights of procession can be a nuisance. Hence they made a law that there will be no sound played after 11.00 pm. I feel that this is an insult to the city. This place is famous for the procession. It is one of the tourist attractions. And you want to have a ban on it for what reason. To maintain silence on the streets when everyone is down there to have a blast!!! Think about these wadaks who practice for a month and are ready to beat the dhols non stop for hours.

The even has lost a bit of charm since then. But still the crowd has not lost its fascination. Last year, even when there was a RED ALLERT in Pune due to bomb threats, the people had gathered in huge numbers to enjoy the procession.

But this year, I see a threat. A bigger threat. The swine flu. The city that never cares about such things, now seem to be susceptible all of a sudden. The city that never took a note of the communal riots and bomb blasts is getting apprehensive about the virus.

The H1N1 has made its presence felt in a treacherous manner. The media has made people to believe that it is the most dangerous thing happened to mankind. The people have responded in the manner they had to. But the question lies here is different.

How will the people react to it on the most auspicious day of a Punekar? Will the fear of the virus keep the Punekars in their homes or will the carefree Punekar come out and celebrate being a Punekar?

I appeal to everyone who lives in this city. If you have ever loved anything in this city, if you have ever felt this city has done any good for you, if you want to know what Pune actually is … do be there on the roads to watch the visarjan. Nothing gets bigger than this here.

Do it with utmost precaution. But do it. It is important.